Apple's Bid to Disqualify Antitrust Compliance Monitor Rejected

I guess the appeals process is sufficiently opaque we will not see the result until a judge announces it. But to have Apple judged as "per se illegal" going in (of anti-trust), when Amazon had a 90% market share, and the book vendors were complaining about losing pricing rights to their own products, does not pass the smell test.

What Amazon did was akin to dumping.

That is per se illegal in this country.

Rocketman

What I always end up wondering with judgements involving hefty fines....in this case just under half a billion....is just where the hell does that money go???

Does it go to benefit anyone, a process, or just does it end up in some government slush fund?

it depends who wins the case. If Apple wins the case they quickly transfer it to off shore account in Ireland to avoid taxes:p

So, deciding guilt ahead of time (because "innocent until proven guilty" is so old-fashioned), then picking your unqualified friend as overseer, and allowing him to charge outrageous rates for himself, plus a subordinate he hired who has at least some grasp of the subject matter (that your "expert" friend needs explained to him), and letting them demand meetings with various high-up company employees who had no connection whatsoever to the matter at hand (because that'll make him feel important), poking his nose in everywhere and generally conducting a witch hunt trying to find *something* to complain about...

That "gives pause"? But isn't illegal? Their response feels a bit like, "well, look, he's a good boy, and at least he hasn't killed anyone." And yet it's Apple that has done wrong (by trying to help the publishers break Amazon's monopolistic stranglehold on the industry), and not the prejudging judge and her "expert" friend.

smh.

As a result, ebook price is going up. US government is protecting amazon, not consumers.

……... then picking your unqualified friend as overseer, and allowing him to charge outrageous rates for himself, plus a subordinate he hired who has at least some grasp of the subject matter (that your "expert" friend needs explained to him), and letting them demand meetings with various high-up company employees who had no connection whatsoever to the matter at hand

This is the most important part for me. It just screams 'conflict of interest'.

As a result, ebook price is going up. US government is protecting amazon, not consumers.

This is pretty uninformed. E-Book pricing has increased because Amazon recently re-signed contracts with the major publishers. Those contracts allow the publishers to set the price; not Amazon. Amazon's preferred e-book pricing is still $9.99. Amazon has even provided incentives to the publishers for keeping the prices lower.

The page now reads: This price was set by the publisher.

http://www.amazon.com/Wright-Brothers-David-McCullough-ebook/dp/B00LD1RWP6/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1432830787

This is what we wanted right? We were clamoring to pay the $13 for e-books from the iBooks store. Now we can pay $13 everywhere. That's what I call a win-win.:rolleyes: